The goal extended Stephen Ireland’s Aston Villa agony, too, after the player revealed he endured four years of torture at Villa Park before being rescued by Hughes.

Weimann ripped open the defence as well as Ireland’s heart with his 50th-minute winner as Villa exacted revenge for two defeats by Stoke last season.

It was a painful sight for Stoke fans to see Villa boss Lambert celebrating with his bench and urging fans to cheer their heroes off the pitch.

Chants of, “We’re going to win the league,” are a bit optimistic but there is no doubt three points and a flying start are a massive boost to Villa.

And Lambert loved his sidekick’s passionate involvement – admittingthat he will not be stopping Keano in his tracks if he decides to turn up the heat from the technical area.

Lambert said: “I’m not going to tell him to sit down. I will let someone else do that. Anyone who knows him or saw him play football knows he wants to win.

“The game’s all about winning. His playing career was outstanding. One of the best to come out of the Premier League. He’s been the assistant manager and a friend and he’s been outstanding.

“But the whole team were excellent. Really good. There were alot of plusses for us.”

Hughes had been upbeat before the new season kicked off, saying his mandate was to better the ninth-place finish from last term.

He said outsiders might think he was setting the bar too high – and for the first 45 minutes at least, they were probably right.

There was plenty of willingness to work but then you would expect that honest ethic from a side managed by Sparky.

There were fully-committed challenges and sturdy defending when Villa threatened.

But chances were rare.

Indeed, there was not much to shout about although Bojan got pulses racing with a sprinkling of mazy runs which totally outfoxed the Villa defence.

The Spaniard showed trickery to carve out a chance with his shot sliding just wide of the target in the 13th minute.

But just when Stoke hopes were rising, Villa should have taken the lead 11 minutes later as Asmir Begovic rushed to foil Kieran Richardson.

“The Villa threat was always there, though, and five minutes after the break they took the lead right in front of their ecstatic supporters”

The keeper made a hash of it and Richardson recovered to deliver to Gabby Agbonlahor facing an empty net – but somehow the Villa man screwed it wide.

A minute before the break, Stoke right-back Phil Bardsley found himself in space and his sneaky left-footer was saved at the second bite by keeper Brad Guzan.

The Villa threat was always there, though, and five minutes after the break they took the lead right in front of their ecstatic supporters.

Weimann had a dig blocked but harried until he latched on to the loose ball, catching Begovic by total surprise with a snapshot that squirmed into the back of the net.

It was a bolt out of the blue for the hosts who had not seen that one coming but at least the goal immediately fired-up their desire to go for Villa throats.

But they just did not have the cutting edge to hurt Villa with Mame Diouf not troubling their back four or keeper Guzan.

And it was no real surprise when Hughes put him out of his misery in the 70th minute when Diouf was swapped for Peter Crouch.

The former England hitman immediately got in on the act with a lay off and a trademark header at last putting the visitors under some pressure.

The switch clearly breathed new life into Stoke with spirits and the tempo raised as they went in search of an equaliser.

But as hopes grew so did the frustration on and off the pitch as Stoke just could not get up enough of a head of steam to roll Villa over.

Boss Lambert and his very vocal assistant Keane were still concerned, though, and made constant runs into the technical area to call for full concentration from their players as the minutes ticked by towards the full 90.

And Keane then held his head in his hands when substitute Leandro Bacuna had a clear sight of goal only to wildly balloon the ball into the travelling fans.

Hughes said: “We expected more but credit to Villa – they came with a plan and executed it well. We were guilty of errors and we need to do better.